Is Abacus Education Really Meaningless? What is the Value of Abacus in Modern Society.

In the past, it was said that it is important to calculation using Abacus, but none of this skills are emphasized in modern society. So, is the Abacus education really meaningless?

Is Abacus practical?

Calculation is necessary in everyday life, using a calculator is common. Also, even when it is necessary to calculate at work, calculations using calculator or personal computer’s OS software have become very common. Recently, many companies place emphasis on OS skills, especially in clerical work and so on, they are becoming indispensable. Even at high school and university, teaching how to use OS software in class has also increased, so there was no particular problem in living even if you can not do the abacus.

But can it really be said that Abacus is unnecessary just by that? Certainly, calculations are done more often by machines. However, depending on the situation, scenes where calculation is done through mental arithmetic in the absence of a machine can be possible. For example, in the case of negotiations, etc., there is a case where the other person makes a question about an estimate suddenly, so the impression received by the opponent greatly changes by being able to immediately reply the question properly. And the fact that you can make a specific suggestion immediately remains in the impression of the opponent.

Because there are some things to calculate in the head without relying on calculators such as mental arithmetic, calculations, and writing calculations, so if you can perform mental arithmetic with the abacus, even if there are no calculators or tools such as abacus actually, because you can calculate with an abacus in your head it cannot be said that there is no practicality on the real world.

Is There No Need for Abacus in Children’s Education?

Abacus education is currently undertaken in mathematics classes of elementary school 3 and 4 grades, but are these classes really unnecessary? When calculating by using Abacus, you can understand the process of solving the calculation by putting the image of the Abacus in your head, so it is easier for the child who is not good at arithmetic to visually understand intuitively and sensually. As a result, the consciousness of not being good at calculation is lost.

Abacus is said to raise the idea of children’s imagination, and it is said to be effective especially in the education of right brain development in early childhood.
When studying computation such as normal mathematics, the left brain works centrally, but by using Abacus the right brain will also work. In other words, learning Abacus has the effect that not only the left brain that is theoretically active in computing, but also the intuitive and sensual right brain can be trained.

By training the right brain, memory and so on will be improved more than when using the left brain alone. When doing mental arithmetic, since it imagines and calculates on the head, it means that it is naturally trained to imagine things.
Calculating using Abacus, naturally activates the right brain fully. It is very important for children’s education because it has a role as a means to actively and efficiently use the right brain.

What is the Relationship Between Abacus Concept and the Real World?

When doing mental arithmetic with the Abacus, calculating while imagining an Abacus in the head is done. In other words, by using Abacus the usual way, you are still training your brain with you imaging the Abacus. These ideas and images are done using the right brain. Normally, languages and memory are done in the left brain, but it is said that using the right brain makes it possible to memorize enormously. Since the right brain is said to be a brain of thought, inspiration or sensibility, it is said that being trained naturally, the idea becomes high, a good idea comes to float by using the right brain, and for the test qualification, it may be useful for memorization and other occasions.

Mental training wherein imaging the Abacus in the head also leads to improvement of work setup and creativity. Therefore, Abacus education received by a small child will be fully utilized even in the real world .

Is Abacus education really meaningless? What is the value of Abacus in modern society.

Calculating with the Abacus is getting less used. However, by learning Abacus, you not only become able to do mental arithmetic, but also the activation of the right brain is achieved, improvement of concentration ability and memory ability etc. is obtained.

Is Abacus education meaningless? There seems something said, but considering the right brain education and the skills acquired being useful even if you become an adult, isn’t it not Abacus education very a valuable thing?

Reference: いしど式まとめ from ISHIDO-SHIKI JAPAN
Translate: IPPO Japanese Math School